Long-headed Poppy - Papaver dubium

Description

Short to medium hairy plant with white latex when stem is broken. Flowers orangey red 3 to 7 cm only occasionally blotched at the base, anther violet. Flower stem with hairs pressed close to stem. Seed capsule long not rounded.

Similar Species

All other small red Papaver species, especially P lecoqii

Identification difficulty
ID checklist (your specimen should have all of these features)

Seed capsules long and narrow (more than twice as long as wide).  Flowers often lighter red than P rhoeas, but this is variable.  Flowers can be blotched at base. Sap or latex is white/cream when fresh - break stem to see this.  Anthers brownish to bluish-black

Recording advice

Photo of seed capsules and latex oozing from stem.  Cannot be identified with confidence from a photo just of the flower

Habitat

Cultivated fields, bare and waste places, field boundaries and roadsides.

When to see it

June to August.

Life History

Annual.

UK Status

Found throughout Britain, but scarce in the north of Scotland.

VC55 Status

Fairly common in Leicestershire and Rutland. The Flora of Leicestershire published in 1988 states that it occurred in 327 of the 617 tetrads.

Listed as Alien (archaeophyte) and Occasional in the current Checklist (Jeeves, 2011)

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Long Smooth-headed Poppy, Long-headed Poppy
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Ranunculales
Family:
Papaveraceae
Records on NatureSpot:
62
First record:
07/07/2006 (Calow, Graham)
Last record:
05/07/2024 (Gaten, Ted)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

The latest images and records displayed below include those awaiting verification checks so we cannot guarantee that every identification is correct. Once accepted, the record displays a green tick.

In the Latest Records section, click on the header to sort A-Z, and again to sort Z-A. Use the header boxes to filter the list.

Latest images

Latest records